Abstract
An extract obtained from hazelnut shells by-products (HSE) has antioxidant and chemopreventive effects on human melanoma and cervical cancer cell lines, inducing apoptosis by caspase-3 activation. A clinical translation is limited by poor water solubility and low bioavailability. Dried plant extracts often show critical characteristics such as sticky/gummy appearance, unpleasant smell, and instability involving practical difficulties in processing for industrial use. A spray drying method has been applied to transform raw HSE in a microparticulate powder. The biopolymeric matrix was based on l-proline as loading carrier, hydroxyethylcellulose in combination with pectin as coating polymers; lecithin and ethanol were used as solubility enhancers. A Hot-Cold-Hot method was selected to prepare the liquid feed. The thus prepared powder showed good technological properties (solid-state, particle dimensions, morphology, and water dissolution rate), stability, and unchanged chemopreventive effects with respect to the unprocessed HSE.
Highlights
By-products of agro-food manufacturing chains contain polysaccharides, proteins, vitamins, fats, and phytochemicals
The technological studies start with the design and development of a tandem system polymeric matrix processable by spray drying technique
The results demonstrated that the optimized matrix and process parameters allowed to protect the antiradical efficacy of hazelnut shells by-products (HSE), obtaining a long-lasting, stable microparticulate system
Summary
By-products of agro-food manufacturing chains contain polysaccharides, proteins, vitamins, fats, and phytochemicals. The recovery of bioactive components with health-promoting benefits suggests the exploitation of vegetable residues as functional ingredients in developing nutraceuticals, functional or novel foods, and pharmaceutical products [1,2,3]. There is an increasing interest in the use of nutraceuticals, based on plant extracts or food by-products, as potential chemopreventive agents, to be used in combination with chemotherapeutics, as a new strategy in cancer control [4,5,6]. We have produced a polyphenol-rich extract (HSE) from the hazelnut shells, major by-product, together with skins [7] of the kernel industrial processing. Due to its functional properties, the production of HSE represents an efficient way to re-use and up-cycle hazelnut shells, turning these by-products, destined for landfill, into a resource of human health-promoting molecules
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